Community Medical Centers received four new grants from the California HealthCare Foundation totaling nearly $100,000. The monies will be used for three Community Regional Medical Center programs and to help market a Spanish version of Community’s television program MedWatch.

Ralph Garcia, board member of both the California HealthCare Foundation and Community, was instrumental in securing the grants.

Community Medical Centers received nearly $300,000 in grant money from First 5 Fresno County for its work in providing medical care to children ages 0 to 5 years old. The Community Asthma Education and Management Center and Level III neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) each received grants.

Dr. Muhammad Y. Sheikh and his colleagues are working to advance treatment for hepatitis C with the first randomized study that showed race to be a factor in the treatment of the disease. This study indicates Latino patients respond poorly to the current hepatitis C treatment when compared to non-Latino patients. It was published in the January 15 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.